A relatively compact early television on display at the Radio Exhibition in 1938. The BBC had begun regular TV transmissions from Alexandra Palace two years earlierPhotograph: Central Press/Getty Images

1941: Baird experiments with colour TV apparatus at his home in Crescent Wood Road, Sydenham, south London. BBC TV had ceased transmission for the second world war, returning in 1946Photograph: Science & Society Picture Librar/Getty Images

Televisions did not remain monstrously large for long, however, as is shown by this 1958 image of modern life in the new town of Harlow, Essex. They would have had ITV from London for three years by this point - although we're not expert enough to know what channel they have onPhotograph: Frank Martin/Hulton Archive

1963: A little boy watches Andy Pandy at home on a pay television. A slot meter on the right allows him to insert 6d coins for an hour of viewing. James Murdoch would approvePhotograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A Bush television from 1967 - still black-and-white, but able to handle higher resolution 625-line UHF transmissions, as well as the 405-line ones standard in Britain since 1936. BBC2 launched in 1964 as a UHF-only service, starting to add colour three years later; 405-line transmissions finally ceased in 1985Photograph: Science & Society Picture Librar/Getty Images

The next big thing? A 60-inch Sharp LCD panel for 3D televisions, unveiled in Tokyo this April. It uses a four-colour display - with yellow as well as the usual red, green and blue - to help restore the brightness lost by watching your TV through polarising glassesPhotograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images